Remember this? No? Well… blame the delay on the lazy plot bunnies! Curse you, plot bunnies!
(Special thanks to my 18th reviewer captivated fairy because 18 is my favorite number. And Hibari is my favorite character.)

The previous chapters are so much better than this. I'm sorry!

The Calm Before the Storm

"Reborn… I don't feel comfortable with this idea."

Tsuna shifted around under the blankets.

"Nobody feels comfortable with this idea."

The room's clock struck a quarter after three in the morning. Both tutor and student stayed up all night thinking of the best solution to their problem. It was Reborn who suggested enlisting the help of the Varia assassins.

Help? From the Varia assassins?

Tsuna did not even pause to think when he downright rejected Reborn's proposal. Reborn did not even think about pausing when he insisted on his plan.

Before they could start arguing, fatigue caught up with Tsuna.

"Reborn… I'm tired."

Yawning cutely, Tsuna closed his eyes and snuggled closer to his tutor.

"Then sleep."

Reborn smiled. He wrapped an arm around his student's waist and pulled him closer. A look of pure bliss was sketched on his face as he ran his fingers through his student's messy cinnamon locks.

–––––

"Tenth! Where are you, Tenth? Tenth!"

Gokudera tore through the castle like a storm. His screams were heard by no one. Upon arriving at the off-limits Vongola basement, he stopped shouting like crazy. The first door was red. He skipped it, knowing fully-well that it was his room and beyond the door lay all his extremely DANGERous explosives. He stopped in front of the locked second door. Gokudera impatiently rapped his knuckles on the poor piece of furniture.

–––––

Pure irritation was written in red ink all over Reborn's face.

Gokudera gulped.

"Uh…What… are you doing here…R-reborn-san? Umm… H-have you seen the Tenth?"

Reborn stepped into the hallway. He locked the door behind him.

"Tsuna… is asleep."
"Asleep! Where?"
"In my room. Don't bother him."
"Your room? Where's your room, Reborn-san? Is th-"
"Don't bother him."

Something about the way Reborn told – no, ordered – him to not bother the Tenth made Gokudera shut up. The pissed Arcobaleno led him away from the basement.

"Are you done making the final preparations for summoning the Varia?"
"Well… yes – I mean no. Kinda, I think."
"What are their demands?"

Gokudera swallowed.

–––––

"They want complete rule over the lesser kingdoms?"

Reborn glared at the scroll in his hands.

" Well… that's all they want."
" 'The lesser kingdoms.' So, the Sky Kingdom's not included?"
"Kufufu… Apparently, the Monkey King knows better than to push his luck."
"But still… I mean, complete rule over the lesser kingdoms?"
"For two months. For two months."
"What if something TO THE EXTREME happens in two months?"

Silence fell upon the Guardians.

"That's what you get for depending on herbivores, herbivores."

Reborn did not stop Hibari when he stood up to leave. The Cloud Guardian-less Varia didn't interest Hibari. Right now, he only wanted to look for his missing Sky. Even Gokudera had no knowledge of Tsuna's whereabouts.

Reborn's room. Where is Reborn's room?

Only Iemitsu knew where in the six hells Reborn's room could possibly be.

But Hibari didn't need Iemitsu. He only needed his tonfas.

–––––

BAM! BAM!

The sound of steel against firm wood awoke the sleeping Sky prince. Tsuna sat up. He covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes. Confusion clouded his head.

What's happening?

Tsuna opened his eyes but all he could see were gray clouds. The silence was deafening. He couldn't hear a thing. Then, the Sky prince realized that the room next to Reborn's had just exploded. The wall connecting the rooms crumbled to dust. When the smoke cleared, Tsuna found himself face-to-face with a smirking Hibari.

–––––

"Hey, the explosion came from the basement!"
"Kufufu… I know that, Gokudera Hayato."
"Then why're you headin' for the lobby! Are you an idiot?"
"Idiot? Did you see the look on the Arcobaleno's face? Didn't you feel his aura?"
"Reborn-san? Aura? What are you talking about!"
"We'll see who the real idiot is… Kufufu."

Mukuro, as usual, vanished into thin air. Gokudera cursed under his breath. He grabbed Lambo by the wrist when he passed by and stopped him.

"Reborn-san… He was pissed, wasn't he?"

Lambo shuddered.

"Yeah. Like, real scary. He had this scary, dark aura all around him… His eyes were scary too!"

When Lambo started motioning with his hands Gokudera couldn't help but smile. It was as if the Guardian he was talking with was the five-year old Lambo and not the fifteen-year old one.

"Hey, Lambo, Gokudera! Hurry up!"

Yamamoto obviously did not notice that Mukuro was missing.

The Thunder and Storm Guardians exchanged looks.

No turning back now. Unfortunately, Mukuro's right.

–––––

"Reborn! You didn't have to do that!"
"Didn't have to do what?"
"You didn't have to injure Hi-"
"I'm not injured."
"-bari-san! He's hurt, Re-"
"I told you, herbivore. I'm not hurt."
"He isn't."
"-born!"

The three-way conversation seriously wasn't working.

Hibari was covered in cuts and bruises. Yamamoto had escaped with Ryohei and Lambo. Gokudera, however, refused to leave his Tenth behind and got blasted off to Mukuro-knows-where in the middle of the fight.

Just then, Mukuro appeared.

"Kufufu… Tsunayoshi... Come with me… Let's leave this two behind!"

Speak of the indifferent illusionist.

"No. Mukuro-san, please go away."

Hibari and Reborn just had to smirk at the rejection.

Mukuro noticed the position Tsuna and Hibari were in. He paled.

Tsuna was sitting between Hibari's legs with the back of his head resting on the taller male's chest. Hibari's arms were wrapped possessively around Tsuna's delicate frame. Apparently, Reborn would only stop attacking Hibari if Tsuna was in the way.

"W-what kind of irritating and jealousy-inducing illusion is this, Arcobaleno?"
"Sadly, this is no illusion, Mukuro. You know that better than anyone."

Reborn frowned. Mukuro continued glaring. Hibari smirked.

Tsuna sighed. What was up with his Guardians and Chief Advisor these days?

"Tsuna. We don't have the time for this. Come with me."

Reborn disappeared into the ruin that was the Vongola basement.

The prince in question cringed upon hearing the same words Mukuro used come from his tutor's mouth. Tsuna went after Reborn, leaving Hibari staring longingly at him.

Mukuro chuckled at the adorable kicked-puppy look on Hibari's face. Sometimes he wished Reborn wouldn't abuse his authority to steal Tsuna from them so much.

–––––

"Where are we, Reborn?"

The night had fallen. Reborn led Tsuna to a seemingly unoccupied carnival tent.

"Fran! Go get the door!"
"I don't want to, Bel-sempai."

The Sky prince squeaked. If Bel-sempai and Fran were here then here would be the Vaudeville, the Varia's hideout! Tsuna hid behind Reborn.

"VOI! So the Vongola brat finally came!"
"Quiet, Squ! You're frightening him."
"I'll go call the boss!"
"No, don't do that, Levi. He doesn't want to see you."

The man named Levi looked like he was about to cry.

"Froggy, go call the boss."
"Yes, Bel-sempai."

Unsurprisingly, the Varia assassins looked scary and had Tsuna shaking in his orange sneakers. Surprisingly, though, they actually looked more like street performers and less like assassins. No wonder Iemitsu had a vaudeville built to hide them. The interior of the vaudeville, however, would pass as the interior of a castle.

The colorful man named Lussuria had them stay in the dining room.

"So the trash came to dinner, huh?"

Tsuna recognized the angry tone of the rough voice. He made a beeline for the door but Reborn was holding his hand and running was impossible.

"Still a coward, I see."

The Varia boss sat at the table with them.

"Good evening, Xanxus."
"X-x-x-xanxus!"

The higher Varia members, the assassins, took their assigned seats on the table. Tsuna was surprised to know that the Varia assassins could actually keep their mouths shut.

"We have come to discuss your demands."
"Complete rule over the lesser kingdoms for two months."

Tsuna took comfort in knowing that the Varia assassins were secretly just as scared of the sight of Xanxus and Reborn sitting at a table together and discussing matters in a calm and civilized manner as he was.

This isn't going to end well.

-––––

It was about a quarter after three in the morning. Tsuna couldn't sleep. He was lying in a bed somewhere far from the Varia vaudeville, taking pride in the knowledge that, as always, his intuition was correct. Tsuna tried to recall the scene before he passed out. He remembered the fire caused by Xanxus's Flames of Rage consuming the carnival tent. He remembered Reborn picking him up in a lover's carry before they jumped out of the window and into the forest to get as far away from the carnival tent as possible. He remembered signing the contract with the Varia.

He remembered the words on the contract.

Complete rule not surpassing that of the Vongola Princes on the lesser kingdoms for a month.

Even the Varia boss couldn't leave a scratch on the Strongest Arcobaleno.

Tsuna smiled when he heard Reborn snoring softly as he slept on the couch.

He was sure that things were bound to get more complicated now that the Varia had come into the picture.

But that's okay! Reborn'd take care of me, I'm sure of it!

–––––

"What! The Tenth disappeared again? Are you kidding me?"
"No. I'm serious."

Gokudera bawled in frustration. Lambo patted his back in an attempt to comfort him.

Moments later, Gokudera was, once more, tearing through the castle like a storm.

–––––

"Tsunayoshi has gone missing… again."

Mukuro. The bearer of bad news.

Hibari's eyes widened.

"The Chief Advisor is missing too."

Hibari's eyes narrowed.

That infant…

–––––

"S-sempai… What do you think… have we been doing… these past few hours?"
"We're looking for Sawada TO THE EXTREME!"
"I heard he went missing again."
"Oh, Lambo! When did you get back?"
"Doesn't matter. Reborn and Tsuna are missing."
"Missing TO THE EXTREME!"
"Y-y-you don't get it, Sempai! I think we're missing something here!"
"Yes! We're missing Tsuna and Reborn!"
"That's not it! We're missing something! Like you know in baseball…"
"Yare, yare…"

OMAKE – Of Indifferent Illusionists

The basement was, like the rest of the castle, in pieces.

When chunks of metal started flying, Tsuna ducked. Without his Hyper Dying Will pills and gloves, he was just as helpless as his right-hand man who had forgotten his bombs in the lobby and was apologizing profusely for his carelessness.

"I'm sorry, Tenth! If I had only remembered my bombs…"

Tsuna was too busy dodging and ducking and tugging at Gokudera's sleeve to listen to what the latter was saying.

"…we'd be outta here already!"

The boss and his right-hand man kept running.

–––––

"Give it up, Hibari. He's mine and you know it."
"No."

Reborn was sure that were he and Hibari not rivals, they'd get along great.

He pulled the trigger. The shot of Sun flames destroyed another wall. To avoid the impact, the skylark jumped back. Hibari prepared for another attack but he found himself distracted by the sweet voice calling out to him.

"Hibari-san! Hibari-san!"

Hibari smiled. For a moment, he forgot all about Reborn and the crumbling basement surrounding him.

"Hey, you bastard! The Tenth is calling you! Are you deaf?"

No wonder Hibari hated these herbivores.

He turned around, swung his tonfa at the insensitive jerk, and made a grab for Tsuna. The unsuspecting prince squealed in surprise.

"Hii! H-hibari-san! W-what are you-"
"Hn."
"But Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun are still-"
"Don't worry."

Tsuna wasn't worried. For some reason, he always felt secure and safe with his Cloud Guardian around. Tsuna wondered if it was because of the other's strength. He was too naïve to know why.

Gokudera seized the collar of Hibari's suit before the skylark could take flight.

"Bastard! Where are you taking the Tenth?"

Tsuna's eyes were apologetic.

"G-gokudera-kun! I'm sorry!"
"Oh, don't worry about me, Tenth!"

Hibari leapt. And just like that, he and Tsuna were gone.

And Reborn was still firing his damned sun flames.

Gokudera cursed.

–––––

"What-"

Gokudera stooped low behind a wooden cabinet. A metal chair flew over his head.

"- are you doing here?"

Mukuro sliced the other unidentified flying objects to pieces with his trident.

"I'm looking for my Tsunayoshi."
"He's-" Gokudera was out of breath. "- not yours!"
"Where is my Tsunayoshi?"
"Like I said…"

Mukuro tensed due to the hostile presence he felt.

"…he's not yours!"

Fran appeared before the two of them. Moments of silence passed. Seconds later, Mukuro and Gokudera saw Reborn's neon green gun resting at the back of the Varia illusionist's head.

Fran faded into the creeping haze.

"Where are you?" Mukuro asked the mist engulfing them.
"Over here."

The Varia's illusionist emerged from the building fog.

"Kufufu. Are you really here?"
"…"

Gokudera was speechless.

He's… Fran?

"What does the Varia want?"

Mukuro knew that Reborn was not feeling as calm as he looks.

"Nothing really. The boss is just getting impatient."
"Xanxus?"
"Yes. The boss wants to know when he'll be seeing the Vongola."
"Tonight. We'll drop by tonight."
"Oh. Okay."

Fran's face was blank when he disappeared for the last time.

Mukuro spun around to look at Reborn.

"Kufufu. You know he's not here, right?"
"Of course."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Take back what's mine."
"He's not yours, Arcobaleno."

With that Mukuro disappeared too.

Gokudera limped away.

Leon transformed to a cell phone.

"Varia Infirmary? Yes, it's the Sun Arcobaleno. Can you pick up someone for me?"

He listened to the receptionist on the other line.

"A silver-haired Italian at the Vongola basement…"

–––––

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm injured. This is an infirmary. And they call you their genius?"

Belphigor flinched. Then he snarled.

"I am a prince."
"Whatever."

Gokudera wasn't enjoying his time at the Varia Infirmary. He was worried sick about his Tenth and the Varia's knife-bastard just won't leave him alone.

"Kufufu… Gokudera Hayato… I hope that you're ready to admit that you're an idiot."

To make matters worse, Mukuro'd occasionally visit him to gloat.

"Get the hell out of here."

Belphigor and Mukuro exchanged looks.

"Kufufu."
"Ushishishi."
"Kufufu."
"Ushishishi."

The door opened. In came Fran holding a tray with two glasses of juice. He looked at Mukuro, face devoid of any emotion.

"Kufufu. I see you brought me some juice."
"No. I'd rather throw these away than give it to you."

Sometimes, when Gokudera was extremely unlucky, Fran would be there when Mukuro was visiting. Then he'd be treated to a whole day of illusions that are too real for his own good. Belphigor would simply sit down and keep laughing. Closing his eyes was never enough. Gokudera often lost his senses and couldn't tell up from down when the illusionists were lost in their battle of illusionary worlds and monsters.

Who sent me here anyway?

Gokudera wondered.

–––––

"U-um… Hibari-san? Where are we?"

As expected, HIbari's castle outside of Cloud Kingdom was situated away from the civilization and crowds.

"Namimori."
"N-namimori. That Namimori? Ehh?"

Namimori? As in Namimori, castle of the Cloud? But we're in the middle of a forest!

The master of the castle stopped walking.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt, herbivore?"

Hibari inspected Tsuna's arms for wounds while kneeling on one knee.

His little acts of kindness were confusing Tsuna.

"N-no."

Hibari placed his boss on the king-sized bed in his room.

"Get some rest."
"I'm not tired."

With a glare, the prefect had coerced the prince into submission.

"Hii! Alright! Alright! I'm going to sleep!"

Tsuna scampered to the middle of the bed on all fours. He got under the blankets and made himself comfortable. Within seconds, he was fast asleep.

Hibari lay beside Tsuna, his mind going over the events of the day. He placed a hand on the brunette's head and stroked the soft brown locks.

Reborn will surely pay him a visit sooner or later.

–––––

Reborn's resolve was stronger than ever. He was definitely going to send Hibari to the Varia Infirmary next.

The Calm Before the Storm

Hey, thanks for reading! Spare me a minute and leave me a review, please? If the three-way conversations are seriously not working, please tell me! Criticisms are welcome. Oh but, I might not be able to reply so, thank you in advance!